Behind the Joke
by Zandra King
Summary: This is just a few pieces of my story Batman Beyond: The Cosmic Joke that I cut out or changed in my final version. I just thought it would give you an idea of the different ideas I went through to get the final version of my story.
1. Chapter 1

If you're keeping up with my story, Batman Beyond: The Cosmic Joke, then the context of these blurbs will be obvious. These are ideas that I had for the story, but scrapped in my final versions. I like them, though, so I thought I'd put them up for you to see. These are not part of the story, so they really have no bearing on what is happening in that. I just thought that maybe someone could use them, or that they might provide inspiration for others. Feel free to use these in your own stories.

P.S. I do not own Batman Beyond, or related characters. They belong to DC. Batman was created by Bob Kane.

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Where's Terry?

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Bruce picked his way carefully through a maze of rubble and pits. Smoke and dust made it even more difficult to maintain his footing; though it did hide the fact that he was using his cane. He didn't want to make it clear how very weak Batman had become. He wasn't sure why exactly he had come; after all, he couldn't help the rescue workers pull victims from the rubble. He couldn't lift the thick slabs of concrete to make paths to other victims. He could barely see well enough to avoid rescue teams, let alone find clues about what had happened. He wasn't sure what had even possessed him to put on the suit again. Except that Terry wasn't here. Batman wasn't here. So Bruce had temporarily put on his old Batsuit and come to this place where he wasn't of any use whatsoever. What had he been thinking? He should have stayed home. But something had nagged at the back of his mind; something that had buzzed at him like a mosquito until he'd come. Now that he had come, though, he felt foolish. What exactly was he doing here?

And, for God's sake, where was Terry? There was no way he could have missed that explosion. Not if he were anywhere in the city. It had, after all, destroyed half the business district. He should have been there by now. Even retired members of the Justice League from halfway across the country had made it by now, and Gotham's own defender hadn't shown? Terry had better have a good reason for not being here. A really good reason.


	2. Chapter 2

Okay, this is the second little blurb. I hope you're keeping up with Cosmic Joke. Here's a modified scene. It was the first idea I came up with regarding this particular scene, but I didn't really like it in context, so I changed it. Anyway, here it is.

I do not own Batman Beyond or related characters, etc. Batman was created by Bob Kane.

Enjoy!

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Through the Door

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_"So why'd you bring him here? You knew Nightwing'd be furious. There are other places for him."_

_"What was I supposed to do with him? Drag him to Arkham and tell them, 'He thinks he's a superhero'? Yeah, that would go over _real_ well. They'd lock _me _up for that."_

_"Hmpf. They could lock any of us up for _that_."_

_"You know what I mean, Barb. Seriously, what was I supposed to do? People would think he's one of us if I had just dropped him at some random hospital. There's no telling what our enemies would do to him. I couldn't just...I couldn't do that. I mean, he's crazy, but that doesn't mean we can just leave him on his own. He'll get himself killed. Look what he did to himself last night. Three broken ribs, two bones in his arm snapped in half...and this has to be his first night out. No one's ever seen him before. What's he gonna be like by the end of the week if we don't stop him now?"_

_"Hmm. I see your point. Still, you should have expected Nightwing to be mad."_

*****

"I overheard Robin and Batgirl talking through the door a few minutes ago. Robin said he didn't want to drop me off at some random hospital, and Batgirl said that you were upset that he brought me here. That means that he likely brought me to someone you guys trust. There's one doctor you trust more than any other, and she's a woman. So is there a problem in my asking for a female doctor, when I'm pretty sure I know who you brought me to?"

They looked surprised. "You heard us through the door?" Robin wondered. "That door is really thick; I didn't think anyone could hear through it. It's not like we were shouting." He looked at Batgirl and something dawned on him. "You heard _everything _we said?" he asked, looking upset.

Terry played the conversation back to them, glad he'd had the insight to record it.

Robin looked guiltily at Batgirl and muttered something that sounded like, "Oh, great."

Nightwing looked around at him, glaring, and said, "_Right outside the door? _Geez, just shout it at him, why don't you?"

"Oh, come on, Sir Sleeps-a-lot. How was I supposed to know he could hear through the door?"

"What?!" Nightwing lunged at Robin and made to attack him, only stopped by Batgirl hooking her arm around his neck to hold him back. Robin was being held back by Static and Gear, trying to attack Nightwing.

"Guys!"

"Woah!"

"Hey, quit it!"

Everyone was trying to get in between Robin and Nightwing to keep them from killing each other, Terry watching from the sidelines dumbfounded at the heated tempers. All he'd done was play back that blurb of dialogue and they were at each other's throats. He thought about what they'd said on the play-back and realized Robin had called Batgirl by her name, "Barb." More importantly, at least to Terry, was the fact that Robin had said he'd been injured _last night_. Could it really have only been last night? The chaos around him was beginning to annoy him. Finally, he couldn't take it anymore and shouted, "All right, people! That's ENOUGH!"

"You stay out of this! It's none of your business!" Nightwing shouted back and went back to arguing with Robin.

With everyone preoccupied by the argument, Terry realized there was an opportunity to have a look around and see if he could find Dr. Thompkins, the doctor that took care of the Bat-family when they were injured. They didn't want him interfering? Fine, he wouldn't. He would just see what was behind Door #1.

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Don't you just love family squabbles? I decided that this scene wasn't really in character, so I changed it. Man is Nightwing pissed! Ha ha....Totally out of character, but fun all the same. I had more imagined with this scene, but since I changed it, I'm not going to write it down.


	3. Chapter 3

Here's a different version of that first blurb. I like this one better.

I don't own Batman...yeah, you know that. Batman was created by Bob Kane. You get the picture.

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Take Two

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Bruce stood in the early morning hours in front of the ruins of his newest building. He didn't really care about the building itself, he could replace it without much problem. It was the fact that its destruction coincided with Terry's disappearance. Bruce had seen a lot in his long years, but nothing he had seen in all that time had convinced him of the existence of coincidences. In fact, quite the opposite was true.

This was _not_ a coincidence.

He watched as rescue teams and fire squads pulled people out of the wreckage and tried to minimize the damage, which was actually quite minimal, considering the fact that the building had been blown up in the middle of this crowded city. He was intrigued that none of the other buildings around it had sustained more damage than broken windows and some dents from flying debris. It was very odd. His mind was already working on scenarios about what had happened, but nothing he had thought of yet quite fit.

He desperately wanted to be in the thick of it all, digging through the rubble and helping the people trapped beneath. He missed being able to do that, but old age had its consequences, namely that he wasn't as strong as he had been in his youth. He would just have to deal with keeping an eye on the progress.

Even while he was thinking about the people who were in the wreckage, he was worrying about Terry. He hadn't been on-link since Bruce had told him to do another round, and he hadn't come in to report. His mother had called soon after the explosion had awakened all of Gotham, wondering where her son was.

He still didn't have an answer. Apparently, Terry hadn't shown up for his date with Dana, and hadn't spoken to Max, either. And with the explosion...Bruce was really concerned. He was hoping that Terry was one of the people who was trapped beneath the rubble, only because it would be easy to find out whether he was alright. He was hoping that Terry had just lost communications due to being buried beneath the wreckage or some damage to the suit, because it would be easy to fix. He was hoping that this horrible weight was just unfounded worry that would be easily dispelled upon finding Terry alright.

But the little voice in the back of his head, the cynical, pessimistic mind, told him that it was very unlikely that Terry would still be trapped; that damage to the suit in just the way that would cause a communication black-out would likely also have killed Terry. He hated that little voice. It was usually right.

Bruce watched as members of the Justice League moved great slabs of concrete, or dragged frightened, injured people from the wreckage. He couldn't help being just a little jealous of them. Oh, how he wanted to help! Curse his old age!

The sun shone wanly through the concrete dust, just enough to see by. Wind blew the dust into his face and he started coughing. Someone came up to stand beside him and he looked out of the corner of his eye. Clark. Of course. He knew what was coming.

"Here, Bruce. You really shouldn't be out here in all this dust, but since I know you'll insist on staying for however long you please, you should at least wear this." Superman handed him a mask to filter out the dust.

Bruce put it on and waited for Superman to ask what he really wanted to.

Superman was silent for a moment, then, "How could this have happened? The formation of the wreckage is so odd! And why weren't any of the other buildings damaged? Do you think your company was the target? Sabotage?"

Bruce frowned. That hadn't been what he was expecting Clark to ask. "I don't know yet. I've been here all morning."

"And most of last night." Superman noted. He watched the progress for a moment. He had a look of deep thought on his face. For a moment, Bruce thought he wouldn't ask the biggest question on his mind, though Bruce knew he was thinking it. But then, he looked off to the side, away from Bruce, and asked, "Where is Batman?" He asked it quietly, looking back at Bruce significantly, but seemed to already know the answer Bruce would give him.

"He's here. His mother called last night when the explosion occurred; he hadn't been home. I tried to raise him, but there was no answer. He missed a date with Dana, and Max hasn't seen or heard from him since before he went on duty. So, he's here. Or he was." Optimism could only last so long, and then the hard truth sank in. Bruce was feeling every one of his 82 years right now, maybe even more. Here he was, standing next to the strongest man on Earth, a small, shriveled, shrunken shadow of a man. And he was alone. Completely alone.

He realized now, how much he'd been counting on Terry's presence, using him like a small child would use the wall at the ice rink for the first time. He had been counting on Terry being there since he'd started letting Terry work as Batman. Oh, there had been times when Terry had almost left, but the boy was stubborn--he'd known that from the very beginning--and Bruce never really expected him to leave for very long. Deep down, he knew Terry would always come back. Except now. He couldn't come back now, not if.... Bruce didn't even finish the thought. It hurt too much.

"I see. We'll step up the search, see if we can't find him. If only there weren't trace amounts of lead throughout everything, this would all be easier. I'd be able to find him without any problems."

"Lead? That's not supposed to be there. I wonder why there's traces of lead in there. Hm."

"Let me know if you figure it out, Bruce."

"Hm."

Superman flew back to the rescue effort and joined Warhawk and Barda as they moved rubble. He coordinated with the League memers over the com-link and told them what was happening. "We need to try to work more quickly. I just learned that Batman didn't report in last night. He never came off duty. It's possible he's buried under this mess. I can't see through all the lead around here. He's not responding to radio hails and he could be injured. So let's step up the process."

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Yeah, by the time I finished it, I realized that I didn't want Bruce out surveying the wreckage, no matter how symbolic it seemed. It just didn't fit his profile to me. It sucks, because this one flowed so well, and sounded so good. But in the end, I went with what you see in the second chapter of my story, Cosmic Joke. I hope you're reading it! (I know I'm getting redundant about that....I really want you to read it.)

I don't know...I think I even like it better than what I've got in the story....maybe I should change what I've got.....hm.


	4. Chapter 4

This is just a funny line that didn't really fit where I had it. I might use it later, but I doubt it.

Don't own Batman....Created by Bob Kane....blah, blah, blah...right.

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Can't Be Batman

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Nightwing laughed. "Now I _know_ you can't be Batman. You have a sense of humor."

"I'm a different kind of Batman." Terry said with a smile.


	5. Chapter 5

Okay, just to keep you all from mobbing me in disgust with my lack of writing, I'll post this now instead of when I finish with the other chapter. This little bit is from the first chapter. I don't remember why I cut it out, but I'm sure I had some reason for doing it. I like this version though, because it feels like someone who really is just waking up. Anyway, enjoy.

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The first thing Terry noticed was the stale taste in his mouth. His tongue was thick and dry. He ran it across the back of his teeth to unstick it, though that didn't really help.

Terry's muddled brain began to move again slowly and it stumbled across a thought: where was he? Judging by the padded softness beneath him and the soft warmth over him, he was in a bed.

He must be home, he thought. Funny, though, he didn't remember getting home. He bullied his brain into thinking back to what happened last night. He remembered being on patrol. Then slowly his mind recalled a moment of panic, falling and falling. Then he remembered relief and pain. And...Robin? Robin! Slag it! That two-timing feather-brained twip had drugged him!

He forced his heavy eyes open and pushed his drug-tired muscles into action to sit up. He noted a steady but dull ache all along his left side, but the sharp broken-bone pain was gone. He wondered just how long he'd been asleep if his bones had healed already. He moved his arm experimentally and a sudden jerk caused him to look down. He was handcuffed to the sides of the bed.

He looked around as he picked the locks on the cuffs. He seemed to be in a hospital room...no, a room in a small clinic maybe. It was too homey to be a hospital. There was an IV in his left arm of saline and his heart was being monitored with a steadily beating machine. There was an armchair in the corner, empty and tired looking. There weren't any windows, though, even in the door.

As the first cuff came undone, Terry heard muffled voices. He listened as the voices came closer and became clearer, trying to make out what they were saying.

* * *

I'll try to finish that other chapter soon, I promise!


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